Today I replaced the faucet on my kitchen sink. Why does this merit a blog entry? Well it accomplished several things. I managed to do the entire project for about $25 (a Stanley guide to kitchen plumbing & the faucet). This is important since plumbers can cost upwards of $80/hour. Being currently unemployed I have more time than money so this worked out well. Plus I gained some knowledge/experience in basic plumbing as well as a bit of self-confidence in handling more repairs around the home. Considering I have been a home owner for about 18 years, this was very over due.
The problem with an older home (mine was built in 1927) is that it tends to need a lot of TLC, when I bought the home as a repo I had to take it “as is” with no warranty (except for termite demage). One aspect of that was that hot water pressure to the kitchen was none existent. I was worried that this was due to blockage in the line over time, well I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it was due to a kinked copper pipe attached to the faucet which was replaced with the new faucet. As such, I know have not only a new faucet but full pressure on the hot water side YAHOO!! After 8 years in the home I managed to solve two different problems with a single inexpensive repair.
The other issue I ran across due to age is that everything was extremely rusted and painful to remove. It took me three hours and a lunch break to get the old faucet off. The bolt mounting post was so rusted that when I touched it with a pair of pillars, it broke in half before I could even fit them to the nut. This probably worked in my favor as I was then left with just the sprayer connector which I could not buge even with a liberal application of WD-40 and a 45-minute lunch break. After removing the faucet itself I was able to use a screwdriver to pry up the faucet base (the other half of the previous mentioned bolt offered no resistance). I was then able to pivot the base and loosen the sprayer connector from the top.
Installing the new hardware was a snap due to a better design and now clean and rust free working space. In all, it took four hours from unpacking the directions for the new faucet to cleaning up and putting away my tools. Not bad considering I have more time than money these days.
